Beoin

I've got a couple that occurred recently! 1. We just moved, and I spent some time putting in a closet system and getting it all organized. At some point I sat down on the floor and just stared at my clothes, because I realized that, for the first time that I can remember, I can wear absolutely everything in my closet (with a couple of exceptions--my wedding dress is a bit too big!) I've always had little "subdivisions" in my closet, with this little section full of clothes I can wear now, and that section full of clothes I'll "be able to get into again, someday," and even a couple pieces of "maybe one day--if I go into a coma and exist only on fluids for, like, a year." But right now, if I asked someone to go grab me something to wear out of my closet, I would be able to put on anything they brought to me (except the coma clothes.) So. Weird. 2. The last couple of times I tried to order from Roaman's/Jessica London/Woman Within, I had to return it all. I've shrunk past their lowest sizes. (That was a real Yay/Aww moment, as I'm delighted to be smaller, but I did like their casual clothes and sale prices. Ah, well. It's for the greater good. Ha!)

Yeah, I finally had to do a Fleet enema nearly two weeks after the surgery (if you've never done one, it's not so bad! LOL) The resulting movement a few minutes later was somewhat difficult, but I felt so much better. Starting then and continuing on (I'm over three weeks out) the first thing I do in the morning is drink some G2 Gatorade or Crystal Light with a dose of Miralax in it (I don't drink coffee, hence the G2,) and then about half an hour later have my Breakfast Protein shake. I now have a bowel movement every morning within an hour of taking the Miralax. Suffice it to say, that's my routine for permanent, now, lol. I had an anal fissure years ago (but I did have to have surgery!) so constipation is bad. BAD!! Definitely check with your doctor to know what's okay for you to do! The enema was my last resort. I'd also tried the Miralax, Milk of Magnesia/Prune juice combo, stool softeners, and walking a bunch. Sometimes your body just decides to make things difficult. Good luck!

I don't tell you the following to freak you out, but to reassure that, even if you can't control the nausea the way you want to, it won't do you lasting damage, and it will pass! So here's what I learned: You may not be able to help it, even with good drugs. I was sleeved on the 16th of last month, and I had epic levels of nausea. (Anesthesia always does it to me.) As I was lying in recovery, they had to hit me three times with anti-nausea meds, AND they put a little alcohol swab under my oxygen thingie next to my nose in case the scent helped me (it does help some people. Not sure if it had much impact on me, though.) Overnight in the hospital, they gave me the anti-nausea stuff as frequently as possible, but it was still rough. I managed to keep some broth down. I had great hopes for the banana popsicle, but two licks into that my stomach went, "Oh, you really don't want to do that," so I stopped and stuck with the broth. A couple of hours later, I ate TWO ice chips, and immediately threw up. And of course, there's not much in your stomach at that point except blood and mucus, so that's what I threw up. Fortunately, I was on enough pain meds that it didn't hurt, but throwing up is never fun. I almost grabbed that bucket in time, but still got a lot on me, to the point that they had to change my gown. (I looked like a CSI crime scene, lol.) Later I tried to take a GasX strip to help with the shoulder pain and incessant belching, and it hadn't even dissolved on my tongue before I threw up again. Tried the next morning to brush my teeth, and threw up. For real, if it's going to happen, it will happen. It didn't damage me, or even hurt that much. It's just gross. However, I think maybe I paid my "nausea dues" at the hospital. I haven't been sick at all at home, and if I was going to be throwing up a lot, I'm glad it happened at the hospital. Let them give you what they need to, and if your doc gives you some stuff for before surgery, great! But if you are as sensitive to the anesthesia as I, all I can say is, "Brace yourself. You'll get through it."

I am so sorry your family is not being supportive. THAT has truly got to be the hardest part of this for you. But at this point, you have just one day to decide if this is really the best choice for you. Don't just cave in to the peer pressure around you and cancel it, but on the flip side, don't just have the surgery to "show them". It really needs to be the right choice for you. I had mine five days ago, and I am definitely having reality bite me in the butt. I went to all the pre-op meetings and classes, did all the research, and knew exactly what was going to be expected of me to make this a success. But that's different than actually living and doing it. (Which you've found out on the liquid diet!) If you do this surgery, it will be weeks, if not months, before you could potentially "cheat" again...at least without hurting your tummy. So the question is, do you have the will power to do it? As for your fam's threat-astic little jabs, they can go jump in a river. The truth is, most of us wouldn't be facing this choice if we could do it ourselves. We'd just have done it! And your body is fighting you. I read the most interesting (and terrifying) article that talked about our body's "set points", and how every time we gain weight, we can be essentially creating a new "normal" for our bodies, and when we try to lose weight, the body can actually sabotage that (by affecting our metabolism, etc) to try to get us back to what it thinks "normal" is. Surgery is one of the few ways to reset those "set points." Of course, the irony is that the surgery process and subsequent life changes can be as hard (or harder) than just "eat right and exercise!" As for your hair, yeah. You might lose some. But it grows back. You might get angry or feel a little depressed because you'll be mourning food. And, well....I'm....not sure why they think you're going to soil yourself, though? I've not heard about that or experienced it. Sound like they may have resorted to making stuff up. "All your toenails will turn purple and fall off!" Yeah. Okay. Whatever. If you decide to do this, I hope you have at least one person who will help you through the next couple of weeks. It's gonna be a little rough, and remember -- YOU WILL LIKELY SPEND A LITTLE TIME REGRETTING WHAT YOU'VE DONE. 'Cause it will be weird. It will be a little hard. You'll be thinking about food and Water ALL the time. And it's even possible that your family will try to sabotage you in little ways, especially during the holidays. But that will pass, and the weight will come down, you'll be in ONEderland soon, you'll have less pain in your knees and feet and hips and wherever, and you will get healthier. But if you have a negative mindset going in, it's not going to magically change going out. It's okay to cancel, or even just re-schedule the surgery if you need to, to give yourself more time. You are the only one who knows what's right for you. Not your family, not us. I wish you the absolute best, dear, and I hope it works out. Keep us updated! If I had a hug emoji, I'd put it right here --->____

I had to have surgery for a fissure a few years ago, so it is VERY important to me that I stay "loose" with the bowel movements. (Otherwise, there is a lot of pain, and sometimes some tearing!) My doctor also told me to use Miralax daily, which helps for the most part, although I always get constipated right before my time-of-the-month, so I have to throw in some stool softeners then, because at that point even the Miralax doesn't help entirely. Stupid T-O-M. But to throw out another idea for you to try, you might get a Squatty Potty! It sounds a little odd, but it helps align your body correctly to fully empty yourself out. And the company that makes them did a really nice job of creating a very funny/weird/satirical/informational promo video for the product. Here's the link! I love mine, and I just really don't want to poop without it anymore. But maybe you already have one, in which case, I will offer what both my bariatric nurse and my social worker sister advised when you need a little help--mix equal amounts (like, a Tbsp or two) of low-sugar prune juice with Milk of Magnesia. I know. Eww. It is not tasty. But it is very effective! It will....err...."blow you out", so to speak. Good luck!

My surgery was two days ago, and I would say I experienced more "discomfort" than pain. That's probably because of all the drugs they had me on, though! The nurse would come in every couple of hours and ask, "On a scale of 1-10, how bad is your pain?" It was rarely over 3 or 4, but she gave me some painkillers every time, just to prevent more pain from hitting me. I was sore on my right side (because I had the sleeve; the bypass would make you sore on your left side) but I asked for an ice pack, and that helped a lot. Honestly, my nausea was worse than my pain. I had a really bad time with the nausea, but not everyone experiences that. It made for a pretty miserable night after surgery. Dairymary up there, that lucky heifer, had NO nausea! Just depends on you and your body! I'm on day 3, and I haven't even taken any of my strong pain meds today; only Tylenol. You honestly won't know until you go through it, but have faith in those hospital drugs. That's some good stuff! Good luck!

I ordered my hubby a pair of the Duluth Buck Naked Boxer Briefs a few months ago, and they have rapidly become his favorite. He even works out while wearing them (and normally the man strips down, dons some spandex, and then dresses over it for working out.) He says they don't chafe and provide good support. I think you've made a good choice. And remember, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just a week or two away. Duluth might have a good sale so you can stock up. In various, reducing sizes, of course. Ha!

Girl, get on it! When I found out this was an option on Tricare, I absolutely went 0-60, and it still took me most of four months (mainly because it's the end of the year, and everyone wants surgery before Dec 31.) I have Tricare (South, specifically), and it requires a minimum of three months (89 days) of monitored weight maintenance, where you must go every month. My friend with Tricare North had to do six months. You may want to check what your Tricare requires. (We are both Standard, so I'm not sure if the Prime requirements will be different.) After I finished that, plus the nutrition and psych evals, there was still a six week wait between getting it submitted to insurance, getting approval back, and scheduling the surgery (which is this Wednesday.) I started this process by going to the information meeting on July 12. However, since you seem to already be moving on this, maybe it won't take as long in general! You may just make it! I started at 255, so my BMI is also above 40, allowing me to be qualified with no co-morbities (although I am borderline diabetic and on Metformin, which will stop as soon as I have the surgery.) This site is a good place to be. Look at some of the before/after pictures and stories, and get a good grip on the struggle. If you don't feel like giving up the life you live now and all the food you can eat now, this surgery might not be for you. But it would be sad to regret letting this opportunity pass, when you know it could change your life and get you healthier. And remember, if you start the process and then decide not to do it before your surgery, that's fine. You've only wasted time and a little money. But if don't start the process because you are still unsure, you'll lose the chance (until you find other insurance with possibly harder requirements. Some of them want five years worth of doctor's visit proving long term obesity!!) Go! Go! Go! I hope it all works out for you! (And for me. I'd love to get us eating healthier in general. It would certainly help the dh pass that tape test, lol.)

Oh, friend, I know what you're going through. My bariatric center requires a 14 day liquid diet before surgery. I'm on Day 12. You're right, it is not fun, but it is doable. The thing is, if you are getting enough Protein, it's probably not your body that's hungry--it's your brain. If you drink some protein every three hours or so, you shouldn't feel like you're starving. Every single day for the past 12 days, I've woken up and thought, "Today I will drink only protein shakes", and then follow through. I don't think about yesterday, or tomorrow, or the things I want and can't have, just about today and what I'm doing. Stay busy, drink them every 3 hours, and ignore the world. There have been bad spots. I had massive headaches the first day or two because I was going through caffeine and sugar withdrawal. Took some Advil and powered through. Once I hit Days 3 & 4, I thought, "Okay, I can do this." By Day 10, I never wanted to see another Protein shake again, lol. The good news is, I don't have cravings any more, I don't have energy spikes and drops throughout the day, and I'm sleeping like a baby at night. But the diet is important because it's shrinking your liver, which has to be lifted to get to your stomach (and that I'm sure you already know!) What has motivated me to maintain a perfect diet, though, is the knowledge that my doctor will make the first incision to determine the state of my liver, and if it's still too fatty (revealing my failure to follow instructions) then they will close up, and try it again another time after I've lost more weight. That terrifies me. I'm so afraid of waking up from anesthesia only to find nothing happened. I do NOT want to have to do this liquid nightmare again. So that is darn well keeping me in line. I can't say that every doctor operates like that (literally!), but you may need to find out the consequences of not following the diet to help motivate you. And take it one day at a time. Today, drink the shakes. Tomorrow, drink the shakes. And if I may offer a gentle prod from a new friend in the same boat as you, if we can't even succeed in doing the pre-op work, then what hope have we of succeeding with the post-op lifestyle changes? food addiction has long, sharp, delicious little tentacles, and it can be a beast to fight your way out of them. But you can do it! Don't be scared! You're not alone! *thumbs up*